The Sparrows of Timor

One of the most gallant guerrilla stories of the war was brought out of Timor last week by Australian Correspondent Bill Marien:

An Aussie unit, whose nickname was the Sparrow Force, was driven to the hills when the Japs attacked Timor with a superior force in February. The Sparrows had rifles, a few machine guns, a little ammunition and 400 miles of open sea between themselves and refuge. Their only hope was radio contact with Darwin.

A young Tasmanian signalman named Joe Loveless went to work. The force settled in bamboo huts, watched the sun rise and fall, played cards, taught natives to sing Lambeth Walk and Lead, Kindly Light.

On April 15 Joe Loveless came up with a weird machine in a four-gallon kerosene tin. It had been assembled from parts of a weak transmitter, a native's receiver and a few pieces of wire, put together with a bamboo soldering stick. But it worked. Joe Loveless called Darwin.

Darwin, suspicious of a message from an outfit given up as lost for two months, radioed: "Is Jack Sargent there?"

Replied XYZ: "Yes, he is."

Darwin: "What is his wife's name?"

XYZ: "Kathleen."

Now Darwin believed. XYZ radioed:

"FORCE INTACT STILL FIGHTING BADLY NEEDS BOOTS MONEY QUININE TOMMYGUN AMMUNITION." Soon the needs were flown in and the Sparrows went to work. They ambushed four Japanese officers and 50 men. They dynamited bridges and burned camps. They sniped and rushed and potshot until by last week they claimed 30 Jap officers and 500 men. They had lost exactly three Sparrows.

Their most embarrassing lack, for a time, was paper. They had to use cigaret papers, bamboo bark and banana leaves. Then one day the considerate Japanese showered their bivouac with printed broadsides demanding surrender. The Sparrows were grateful.

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